Few muscles are used as often as the wrist, forearm and hand muscles (hereinafter referred to collectively as "lower arm muscles"). Each time a person lifts or grabs an object, these muscles come into use. The constant use of the functions of the hands makes the condition and ability to use the hands extremely important.
Despite this importance, there are very few ways to develop, exercise or rehabilitate the lower arm muscles. One past method of exercising the wrists and forearms is by performing "wrist curls". A wrist curl begins by a user holding weights in one or both hands with the forearms extending substantially perpendicular from the body. The wrists are then twisted back and forth, alternating between forcing the weights upward and lowering the weights. Other methods of exercising the lower arm muscles include squeezing resilient objects such as tennis balls or twisting handles which offer resistance. Although each of these exercises may offer exercise of the wrist and hands, the equipment used is often bulky or cumbersome or difficult to handle. There is a need for a lightweight device for exercising the lower arm muscles of the person which is not difficult to handle.
Other problems may exist if it is the finger muscles the user wishes to develop. Rehabilitation may require exercising individual fingers or exercising some fingers more than others. Most exercises do not allow for isolation of individual fingers. Moreover, a user attempting to exercise the fingers using objects such as tennis balls may end up "cheating" or using one or two more dominant fingers when squeezing the resilient objects. There is a need for a lightweight means of exercising the hands or wrists of the person which could isolate individual fingers or offer different resistances for different fingers.
Most of the prior apparatuses used to exercise the lower arm muscles typically resist in a linear manner the force applied by the exerciser. In the linear systems, the resistance applied to the exerciser is constant regardless of the position of the exercise equipment relative to the exerciser's body. However, recently it has been discovered that optimum exercise results may be obtained by the use of variable resistance exercise equipment. The equipment applies a variable or non-linear resistance to the exerciser during the motion associated with an exercise movement. The advantages of variable resistance exercise equipment are discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,863,159 to Brown, Jr. There is a need for a variable resistance exercising device for the lower arm muscles of a person.
The space industry has offered a new problem in terms of muscle development. Specifically, when astronauts are in space, their muscles tend to degrade or atrophy because of the lack of gravity or lack of resistance applied by the thinner atmosphere. The lower arm muscles are but a few of the muscles which suffer from this phenomenon. Because of the limited space in the spacecraft, exercising equipment must be of limited size. Also, because of the limited gravity in space and the advantages of keeping the spacecraft light, the exercising device needs to not rely on its weight to provide resistance.
A continuing concern with exercising devices is the spread of germs or disease, especially when the devices are used in an institutional environment. The germs may spread through the exercising equipment by contact of different people with the equipment or by microorganisms passing through the air. There is a need to provide an exercising device for the lower arm muscles which may be free from contaminants and which could destroy or inhibit growth of other microorganisms which come into contact with the exercising device.
Thus, there is a need in the area of exercise equipment for the lower arm muscles for a lightweight exercising device which works without using gravity as a means for resistance. In addition, the device needs to exercise each of the fingers of the hand individually and offer variable resistance. The device also needs a means of being offered in a germ-free state. Preferably, the device could offer exercise without impeding normal use of the hands.